Gundagai are hoping to see some reward for their off-season efforts when they hit the road to Sydney on Saturday for their one-and-only trial match preparation.
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The Tigers are heading to Forestville, in Sydney’s north, to take part in a three-way exchange with Forestville Ferrets and Jamberoo, from the NSW south coast. They’ll have a 40-minute hit-out against both sides.
Gundagai captain-coach James Smart said the first steps towards a return to premiership glory have already taken at training, and he’s keen to see if they’re on the right track.
“The biggest thing is, there’s a couple of new things we’ve been working on in the pre-season and it’ll be disappointing if we walk away without seeing some improvement,” Smart said.
“I think defensively we weren’t as strong as we’d have liked to be last season. It’s something we always pride ourselves on, our defence.. and we felt we need to be a lot stronger in that area.
“Obviously we’ve done a lot of running (in the pre-season) as most teams do. But we’ve done a fair bit of contact work too, and the boys have really bought into what we’re doing.
“This is going to be our only trial so we need to go out and give it a good crack.”
The Tigers elected against defending their West Wyalong Knockout title this year, and Smart is comfortable with the decision.
“I don’t think we could’ve possibly done it,” he said. “We’re only taking a squad of 17 this weekend (to Sydney)… going to West Wyalong at the end of February, would’ve knocked us around too much. Even last year on the Saturday, we were scraping for players.”
New signing James Curgenven gets his only chance at a first impression.
“It’ll be James’ first game for the club so we’re looking forward to seeing how he plays,” Smart said.
“He’s been training really well and I expect he’ll go well because of the work he’s been putting in.”
The former Wagga City rugby player had a short Group Nine stint with Tumut last year. Smart said he will play centre, but fullback and the halves are also options for Curgenven.
The Tigers take on Cootamundra in the opening round of the season.